These in­cluded “a size­able num­ber of cases” when peo­ple were af­fected by the re­moval of the spare room sub­sidy – dubbed the “bed­room tax” by op­po­nents – the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment re­port said.

So­cial Se­cu­rity Sec­re­tary ShirleyAnne Somerville said the amount of cash spent was “galling”.

She said mak­ing the pay­ments was the “right thing to do”, with more than 70,000 house­holds get­ting help to stay in their homes.

By the end of Septem­ber this year, coun­cils has spent 93 per cent of the £60.9 mil­lion the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment bud­geted for DHPs for 2018-19.